Modernization under Jigme Dorji, 1952-72

The third Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, was enthroned in 1952.
Earlier he had married the European-educated cousin of the chogyal
(king) of Sikkim and with her support made continual efforts to
modernize his nation throughout his twenty-year reign. Among his first
reforms was the establishment of the National Assembly--the Tshogdu--in
1953. Although the Druk Gyalpo could issue royal decrees and exercise
veto power over resolutions passed by the National Assembly, its
establishment was a major move toward a constitutional monarchy.

When the Chinese communists took over Tibet in 1951, Bhutan closed
its frontier with Tibet and sided with its powerful neighbor to the
south. To offset the chance of Chinese encroachment, Bhutan began a
modernization program. Land reform was accompanied by the abolition of
slavery and serfdom and the separation of the judiciary from the
executive branch of government. Mostly funded by India after China's
invasion of Tibet in 1959, the modernization program also included the
construction of roads linking the Indian plains with central Bhutan. An
all-weather road was completed in 1962 between Thimphu and Phuntsholing,
the overland gateway town on the southwest border with India. Dzongkha
was made the national language during Jigme Dorji's reign. Additionally, development projects included
establishing such institutions as a national museum in Paro and a
national library, national archives, and national stadium, as well as
buildings to house the National Assembly, the High Court (Thrimkhang
Gongma), and other government entities in Thimphu. The position of gongzim,
held since 1907 by the Dorji family, was upgraded in 1958 to lonchen
(prime minister) and was still in the hands of the Dorji. Jigme Dorji
Wangchuck's reforms, however, although lessening the authority of the
absolute monarchy, also curbed the traditional decentralization of
political authority among regional leaders and strengthened the role of
the central government in economic and social programs.

Modernization efforts moved forward in the 1960s under the direction
of the lonchen, Jigme Palden Dorji, the Druk Gyalpo's
brother-in-law. In 1962, however, Dorji incurred disfavor with the Royal
Bhutan Army over the use of military vehicles and the forced retirement
of some fifty officers. Religious elements also were antagonized by
Dorji's efforts to reduce the power of the state-supported religious
institutions. In April 1964, while the Druk Gyalpo was in Switzerland
for medical care, Dorji was assassinated in Phuntsholing by an army
corporal. The majority of those arrested and accused of the crime were
military personnel and included the army chief of operations, Namgyal
Bahadur, the Druk Gyalpo's uncle, who was executed for his part in the
plot.

The unstable situation continued under Dorji's successor as acting lonchen,
his brother Lhendup Dorji, and for a time under the Druk Gyalpo's
brother, Namgyal Wangchuck, as head of the army. According to some
sources, a power struggle ensued between pro-Wangchuck loyalists and
"modernist" Dorji supporters. The main issue was not an end to
or lessening of the power of the monarchy but "full freedom from
Indian interference." Other observers believe the 1964 crisis was
not so much a policy struggle as competition for influence on the palace
between the Dorji family and the Druk Gyalpo's Tibetan mistress, Yangki,
and her father. Nevertheless, with the concurrence of the National
Assembly, Lhendup Dorji and other family members were exiled in 1965.
The tense political situation continued, however, with an assassination
attempt on the Druk Gyalpo himself in July 1965. The Dorjis were not
implicated in the attempt, and the would-be assassins were pardoned by
the Druk Gyalpo.

In 1966, to increase the efficiency of government administration,
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck made Thimphu the year-round capital. In May 1968,
the comprehensive Rules and Regulations of the National Assembly revised
the legal basis of the power granted to the National Assembly. The Druk
Gyalpo decreed that henceforth sovereign power, including the power to
remove government ministers and the Druk Gyalpo himself, would reside
with the National Assembly. The following November, the Druk Gyalpo
renounced his veto power over National Assembly bills and said he would
step down if two-thirds of the legislature passed a no-confidence vote.
Although he did nothing to undermine the retention of the Wangchuck
dynasty, the Druk Gyalpo in 1969 called for a triennial vote of
confidence by the National Assembly (later abolished by his successor)
to renew the Druk Gyalpo's mandate to rule.

Diplomatic overtures also were made during Jigme Dorji Wangchuck's
reign. Although always seeking to be formally neutral and nonaligned in
relations with China and India, Bhutan also sought more direct links
internationally than had occurred previously under the foreign-policy
guidance of India. Consequently, in 1962 Bhutan joined the Colombo
Plan for Cooperative, Economic, and Social Development in Asia and the
Pacific known as the Colombo Plan, and in 1966
notified India of its desire to become a member of the United Nations
(UN). In 1971 after holding observer status for three years, Bhutan was
admitted to the UN. In an effort to maintain Bhutan as a stable buffer
state, India continued to provide substantial amounts of development
aid.

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck ruled until his death in July 1972 and was
succeeded by his seventeen-year-old son, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The
close ties of the Wangchuck and Dorji families were reemphasized in the
person of the new king, whose mother, Ashi Kesang Dorji (ashi
means princess), was the sister of the lonchen, Jigme Palden
Dorji. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who had been educated in India and
Britain, had been appointed ponlop of Tongsa in May 1972 and by
July that year had become the Druk Gyalpo. With his mother and two elder
sisters as advisers, the new Druk Gyalpo was thrust into the affairs of
state. He was often seen among the people, in the countryside, at
festivals, and, as his reign progressed, meeting with foreign
dignitaries in Bhutan and abroad. His formal coronation took place in
June 1974, and soon thereafter the strains between the Wangchucks and
Dorjis were relieved with the return that year of the exiled members of
the latter family. The reconciliation, however, was preceded by reports
of a plot to assassinate the new Druk Gyalpo before his coronation could
take place and to set fire to the Tashichhodzong (Fortress of the
Glorious Religion, the seat of government in Thimphu). Yangki was the
alleged force behind the plot, which was uncovered three months before
the coronation; thirty persons were arrested, including high government
and police officials.